Effect of culture substrata and fibroblast inhibitors: Trigeminal ganglion axon outgrowth revisited

Axon outgrowth in vitro can be influenced profoundly by the culture system used and may even be misleading due to certain prerequisites. Intact non-dissociated trigeminal ganglia extend neuritis only when co-cultured with target tissues and not in isolation. We set out to determine if intact early age murine trigeminal ganglia extend neuritis in isolation, is it the culture system involved and whether fibroblast inhibitors could actually prevent the normal outgrowth pattern. Mouse intact trigeminal ganglia before target innervations were given the choice to grow in isolation or with target tissues on three dimensional collagen gels, collagen coated platform and poly-d-lysine substrata. Cultures in this way were set up in the presence and absence of fibroblast inhibitors.